Apparatus for waxing collapsible tubes



July 31, 1951 o. J. PALERMO APPARATUS FOR WAXING COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Filed Sept. 2, 1947 FIII 11 l'mventor llllillltllll lllll l WM d z'mcJ Palerma Gitorneg Patented July 31, 1951 APPARATUS FOR WAXING COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Dominic J. Palermo, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Victor Industries Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 2, 1947, Serial No. 771,741

I 4 Claims.

1 This invention relates to the apparatus for waxing the interior of collapsible tubes and particularly to insuring a uniform coating on the tube.

Collapsible metal tubes of the type designed to hold and to dispense tooth paste or other pasty materials are frequently coated on their interior surfaces with wax or the like materials to resist corrosion of the metal tube and the effect of the metal on the contents. Such tubes have constricted hollow necks through which the contents are dispensed after removal of the cap, and have a tapered or conical shoulder joining the neck to the body of the tube. In coating the inner surfaces of the tube with molten wax, the wax tends to accumulate in the neck by capillary attraction, thereby closing up or clogging the relatively small discharge opening of the neck and preventing the contents of the tube from being dispensed therethrough. The wax may even solidify to form a wall across the neck if given time to cool between operations upon the tube.

The present invention therefore contemplates the provision of means for coating an empty but ill capped collapsible tube openat its filling end,-

with wax in such a manner that no wax is retained across the neckof the tube, and the neck as well as the interior walls of the tube are uniformly coated.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a heated spring-pressed and valved spray tube for delivering a stream of heated air at sufficient speed and in sufficient volume and at the required temperature to melt and to distribute evenly any wax which may have accumulated in the neck of a wax-coated tube.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the description which follows and from the drawings, in which V Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the tube coating, neck freeing and tube heating apparatus designed to perform my new method.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the means for directing a stream of heated air into the neck and shoulder of the tube.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the same taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the upper end of the wax sprayer and of the capped tube, in the positions assumed thereby during the waxing operation, showing how the wax accumulates in and clogs the neck of the tube.

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the hot air sprayer showing the accumulated wax melted and blown out of the neck.

Fig.6 is a vertical sectional view of the spraying tip on the upper ends of the wax and hot air Sprayers, showing the outlet perforations for the fluid and the drain grooves.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown by way of example, the capped collapsible tube It having the cap II screwed on to the tube neck [2 and being open at the other end [3 thereof, is mounted on the wax spraying tube M as by dropping the collapsible tube around the spraying tube. The conical support i5 fixed to the spraying tube and movable therewith engages the open end l3 of the collapsible tube l0 and transmits to the spraying tube any pressure put upon the collapsible tube to depress said tube, whereby the spraying tube may be moved downwardly by manual pressure on the tube ID. The support I5 is made sufficiently large to protect the lower parts of the mechanism from draining wax. An inlet pipe l6 through which molten wax is forced, communicates with the interior of the spraying tube, which in operation, is close to or'touches the shoulder of the collapsible tube. The wax is sprayed into the neck and against the shoulder of the collapsible tube lil when said tube is depressed to open the valve between the pipe l6 and the spraying tube. Since the tubes for spraying both wax and heated air are substantially of the same construction, a descriptionof one of said tubes will suffice for both.

As best seen in Fig. 2, which shows the air inlet pipe I! for the supply of air under pressure, a fixed hollow valve member i8, which serves also as a guide for the spraying tube in the movement of the latter, is secured to the inlet pipe and is provided with the fixed valve seat l9 shown as conical and surrounding the valve opening. The similarly shaped valve disc 20 on the spraying tube 2| is normally maintained in its valve closing position, wherein it is seated on the valve disc I9, by the compression spring 22 surrounding and supported by the extension 23 of the spraying tube, the spring abutting at one end against the valve disc and at its other end against the inlet pipe. Inlet holes as 24 are made in the spraying tube above the valve, through which holes fluid passing through the open valve enters the interior of said tube and passes upwardly to the spraying tip 25.

A connecting sleeve 26 receives the major part of the depending sle'eve 21 of the spraying tip and terminates at its upper end in an enlarge ment having a flat base 28 spaced slightly below sufficiently close to the discharge opening in the neck 12 to discharge fluid through the inclined holes 33 thereof into the neck. In the case now being described, the fluid is air which is heated by the valve member 18 obtaining heat from a suitable electrical heater 34 surrounding the valve member and energized by current lead to the terminals 35, 36 of a suitable electrical plug.

Suitable grooves as 38 depressed in the conical surface of the tip 25 provide draining passages for the excess wax melted by the .heated air stream and blown by said stream out .of the neck, and permit the molten wax to flow downwardly along the inner surfaces of the neck and shoulder and along the body of the collapsible tube, thereby aiding to coat the inner surfaces completly with a thin layer of wax.

In the .case of the wax sprayer tube [4, the heater is omitted, but the valve and the spraying tip are substantially the same as those just described, whereby wax is sprayed. through the holes 3| and .33 of the tip when the collapsible tube is mounted on the tube [4 and depressed to open the valve. The wax collects on the inner walls of the neck and shoulder of the collapsible tube, the excess wax above that required for coating, flowing past the tip 25 through the surfacegrooves thereof to coat the inner surface of the body of the collapsible tube.

The thus waxed tube, lllis then removed from the wax spraying tube l4 .andmounted on the hot air spraying tube 21 and depressed, whereby the wax 3T accumulated in the neck, if solidified, is melted, the excess molten wax being blown out of the neck by the blast of air and fiowing out of the neck along the surface grooves 38 to become distributed on the inner surfaces .of the tube l9. After the wax accumulating in the neck has been blown out as described, the tube l.0: is mounted .on one of the rods .39 upstanding from the conveyor chain 40 and is carried bysaid chain into the heated chamber 41 where thetube H3 is heated; thereby assuring an even coating 01. was: therein, the excess wax. draining off the conical support-ll2 on rod 39. The evenly coated tube is removed from its supporting rod 39 on its emergence from the heated chamber, and the wax is allowed to harden at-room temperature.

It willbe seen from the above that I have provided a simple, efiicient and easily operated .apparatus for producing an even coating of wax or the like .on the inner surfaces of the neck, shoulder and body of-a collapsible; tube in spite of the tendency of the wax-to-accumulate inand to clog the dischargezopening in: the neck if permitted to do so. It will -further .be understood that various changes maybe .made in the specific form of the invention herein illustrated, without. departing from the spirit of the invention defined in the appended claims;

I claim: I V

1. In apparatus for waxing the interior of a collapsible tube having a constrictedhollowneck 4 and a tapered shoulder, a vertically movable wax sprayer adapted to support a tube and to spray a stream of molten wax into the neck and shoulder of the tube when depressed by downward pressure on a tube supported thereby, a vertically movable hot air sprayer.adaptedtosupport the twaxed tubeand to sprayzheated airlinto the neck and shoulder of the tube when depressed by downward pressure on the waxed tube supported thereby, thereby to drain off excess wax accumulated in and tending to clog the neck, and a fixed heater surrounding the lower part of the hot air sprayer to heat the air entering the sprayer.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of the sprayers comprises an upright vertically reciprocable fluid conducting tube, a fixed fluid inlet pipe communicating with the spraying tube, a valve interposed between the interior of-the spraying tube and the inlet pipe-and comprising a fixed valve seat, a valve disc secured to and movable with the spraying tube and a spring urging the disc against the seat, a spraying tip at the upper end of the sprayin tube, said tip being of generally conical outline to :fit that portion of the collapsible tube below the neck and being provided with outlet openings and with surface drain grooves.

3. In apparatus for waxing the interior of a collapsible tube, a hot .air sprayer adapted to melt and to drain excess ,vvax deposited in the neck of a collapsible tube and tending to clog the neck, said sprayer comprising a springpressed and vertically movable tube, a valve disc on the movable tube, a fixed guide sleeve around the lower part of the movable tube, a valve seat on the sleeve adapted normally to-seat the disc and. thereby to close the valve, a heater around the sleeve, a perforated-spraying tip of generally conical form at the top of the movable tube, said tip havinga flat base in: upward spaced relation to the adjacent end of the movable tube, said tip having-a sleeve entering said adjacent end, the last mentioned sleeve havin perforations therein inclined upwardly and outwardly and having additional perforations therein between the base and the adjacent end of the movable tube to direct a stream of, air against the ad jacent surface of the collapsible tube mounted on the movable tube when the collapsible tube is pressed downwardly.

4. Collapsible tube waxing apparatus according to claim 3' wherein the movable tube is pro:, vided with holes .therethroug-h above the valve disc and communicating with the interior of thesleeve when the valve disc is in a depressed position a substantial distance below the valve seat, the spraying tip having surface drain grooves therein for the downward flow of molten'wax out of the neck of thecollapsible tube.

DOMINIC J. PALERMO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Friden et a1. Nov. 29, 19.49 

